Crisis-hit Sri Lanka appoints two more ministers to manage economy

Shehan Semasinghe assuming duties as the State Minister of Finance in the presence of Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardana and other Finance Ministry officials

• MPs Shehan Semasinghe and Ranjith Siyambalapitiya swear in as State Finance Ministers
• Including Prez Wickremesinghe as Cabinet Minister of Finance, SL now has 3 ministers for Finance

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka, which declared bankruptcy in mid-April and defaulted on its foreign debt in the following month for the first time in its history, yesterday appointed two additional ministers to manage its finances, increasing the total number of finance ministers to three.

The President’s Office yesterday announced the appointment of MPs Shehan Semasinghe and Ranjith Siyambalapitiya as State Ministers for Finance along with the appointment of 35 more State Ministers. 

President Ranil Wickremesinghe remains the Cabinet Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies.

Siyambalapitiya has previously functioned as a State Minsiter of Finance during 2004-2010 period and Semasinghe functioned as the State Minister of Samurdhi, Household Economy, Micro Finance, Self Employment and Business Development under the Finance Ministry in 2020. 

Following the appointment of State Ministers yesterday, more ministers to the Cabinet are also expected to be appointed shortly, the government sources said. 

Almost all those currently in the Cabinet and the newly appointed State Ministers were in the government of the former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (who was forced to resign in exile) as Cabinet or State Ministers. 

Rajapaksa and his government are widely blamed for grossly mismanaging Sri Lanka’s economy.

Sri Lanka last week entered into a staff-level agreement with the International Monterey Fund (IMF) for a 48-month, US$ 2.9 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF). 

However, the disbursement of funds is subject to Sri Lanka restoring its debt sustainability and fulfilling some major economic reforms identified as “prior actions.” 
Following the staff-level agreement, Sri Lanka officially began talks with its creditors for debt restructuring. 

The island nation expects to restructure about US$ 50 billion worth debt owed to bilateral, multilateral and private creditors. 

While the Paris Club creditors and the United States have responded positively towards Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring effort, the position of the country’s top bilateral creditor, China, remains elusive.